STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Said to be the first victim of Hurricane Sandy, Old Orchard Shoal Lighthouse now sits at the bottom of the Raritan Bay.

Built in 1893 off Great Kills, it was once a refuge for fishermen caught in squalls. Its white flashing light, automated in 1955, could be seen for seven miles in clear weather.

But the longstanding beacon for boaters -- just about three miles off the shores of Staten Island -- was destroyed by a 32 1/2-foot wave on Oct. 29, 2012.

Since then, boaters have been without a guiding light to help prevent them from crashing into the rock pilings on the .72-acre site that formerly housed Old Orchard Shoal Lighthouse.

"That first wave of Sandy took the lighthouse down. That lighthouse was always a 'welcome home' when you were coming in from the ocean," said Fred DeLise, an avid boater and one of the founders of the Committee to Save Great Kills Park Marina.

"A lot of the boaters have been really concerned. At night the boaters can't see the pile of rocks in the middle of the water," he said.

Although the U.S. Coast Guard sold the lighthouse property at auction a few years ago, it's still responsible for beacons in the water surrounding the borough. The General Services Administration, which conducted the auction of the property, didn't return repeated requests by the Advance pertaining to the ownership of the former lighthouse.

A NEW LIGHT

Fueled by a funding allocation of about $20,000, the Coast Guard plans to install a 12-foot-high LED light this month to help boaters navigate around the small island.

"This is the same type of automatic light that has replaced old optics in lighthouses throughout the country," said Charles Rowe, public information officer for the U.S. Coast Guard.

"When you come within sight of it, you know you are nearing that shoal water. It gives you both a location and a warning because those waters rapidly become shallow. There is the danger that recreational boaters can run aground," he added.

NEW LIFE FOR LIGHTHOUSE

While the lighthouse was destroyed by Hurricane Sandy, it will be recreated at the National Lighthouse Museum.

"We can't remove it from the water because it's cast iron. When cast iron hits the air it will disintegrate. It's safer under water. It has not moved. It has to be desalinated; salt has to be removed from it, then we will reassemble it," said Linda Dianto, executive director of the National Lighthouse Museum.

"We want to turn it into a monument since it was the first victim of Sandy," she added.